In 1790, Thomas Jefferson led the first official census. It was estimated to cost 1 cent per person counted, and the first generation of “enumerators,” as Census Bureau field staffers are now called, made the rounds on horseback. The 2010 census is projected to cost $36.43 per capita, with much of the cost going to the gadgetry that the bureau is using to make the second nationwide count of the 21st century a pencil-free affair. Total estimated price: $11.5 billion.

The ticket to a high-tech tally is a PDA-size handheld computer from Harris Corp., manufactured specifically for the 2010 census. It boasts a touch screen, 10-hour battery life and even fingerprint authentication and global positioning system technology.

Amid congressional skepticism that the devices are reliable, Census Bureau chief Louis Kincannon has said: “They will work. They have worked.” They worked in a dress rehearsal in two cities, he said. “Out of 1,388 handheld computers, only five had problems.”

Three women have told the New York Times that music mogul Russell Simmons raped them, the latest in a cascade of serious allegations of sexual misconduct against powerful men in entertainment, media, politics and elsewhere.